Heat and hills challenge Anchor House riders

Glens Falls, N.Y.— Longtime veterans of the Anchor House Ride for Runaways debate exactly when they met the Durkee family of Danby, Vermont.

For three Anchor House rides over the years, the Durkee family dairy farm has been a fixture on the route, and a stop to look forward to after a long day of climbing steep hills.

A review of the Anchor House routes shows that the farm was first a rest stop back in 2004, when the ride began from South Burlington, Vermont.

Family members help out with set up and chat with the veteran riders. The cyclists can use of the family pool. And the family also makes a monetary donation to the Ride for Runaways.

“They are wonderful people,” said support crew member Mike Quinn. “When we first started coming here, the youngest boy wasn’t in school yet, and he was proud to show all the cyclists his new calf. He came up to my knee. Now they are in high school and college.”

In addition to a support crew of more than 35 people, the Ride for Runaways depends on the kindness of people along the route like the Durkee family. Firehouses, houses of worship and private homes serve as rest stops along the route all week so that the cyclists can rest, eat, and refill their water bottles.

The three rest stops along the route Monday also served as cooling stations. The cyclists climbed 4,400 feet over the course of 61.3 miles today. They had a three-mile climb early in the day, followed by several steep climbs as the temperatures reached the 90s. Along the route, cyclists could be seen taking breaks in what little shade they could find.

Cyclist John Hinton of Warren expressed the feelings of many cyclists when he summed up the day this way: “The hills sucked.”

“It was the longest 61 miles I’ve ever ridden,” said cyclist Dave Wyatt.

Locals chatted up Anchor House participants along the route, and some offered to fetch water for the cyclists stopped alongside the road.

When the cyclists arrived at their destination, many headed to a local eatery called Davidson’s for dinner, because the owner offered to donate a percentage of the proceeds from the evening back to Anchor House. One more act of kindness along the way.

Tuesday the cyclists will bike 65.5 miles to Latham, N.Y.

Reporter Krystal Knapp of PlanetPrinceton.com is a cyclist in the 35th annual Anchor House Ride for Runaways. For more information about Anchor House or to make a donation, visit www.anchorhouseride.org , where you can also make online donations in a cyclist’s name. Donations can also be sent to the Anchor House Foundation, P.O. Box 2357, Trenton, NJ 08607-2357.